SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A San Diego woman is grateful her son wasn't hurt in a 6.4 magnitude earthquake that shook residents in a small community in northern California early Tuesday morning.
The 6.4 magnitude earthquake jolted people out of bed around two Tuesday morning. Julie Bagg's son lives in Arcata in Humboldt County. His wife and baby boy are back in San Diego.
"I was shocked. I was grateful my grandson and his mom are already down here so it was just my son and his dog I was worried about," said Bagg.
Her son Ben says his home has some minor damage and the power is out, but overall he feels lucky.
"He said it was the biggest one he's experienced in his twenty-six years," said Bagg.
Geologist Dr. Pat Abbott says the area is prone to quakes.
"This is an area where we commonly get big earthquakes. We're right on the northern end of the San Andreas fault where it turns into or merges with an offshore fault and one running along the coastline what we call a triple point, so 3 major faults meet right in that area," said Abbot
But fortunately, it's a sparsely populated area.
"It's going to be more nuisance compared to catastrophe," said Abbott.
If the same size quake hit along San Diego's Rose Canyon fault - the damage could be catastrophic.
"If we get a 6.4 running on the Rose Canyon fault through San Diego, which is inevitable maybe tomorrow maybe another 100 years, it would do significantly more damage because we have 3.5 million people in the county and it runs right through town," said Abbott.
It's still unclear how many homes are damaged, but a separate earthquake insurance policy is needed for repairs to be covered.
The CEO of California's Earthquake Authority says only about 10% of residents carry it. Older homes - built before 1980- are more at risk.
"In the San Diego area, it’s relatively inexpensive, it costs far less to get a policy in San Diego than it does say, right smack in the San Andreas fault downtown Los Angeles," said CEO Glenn Pomeroy.
The Earthquake Authority says if your home was built before 1980 consider a seismic retrofit to strengthen the foundation and make it more resistant to shaking.
